Aussies in with a chance for Tour domination

Posted
July 14, 2006 15:05:00

For the first time in the 100 year history of the Tour de France, Australian cyclists have a real chance of winning the toughest road race. After a difficult climbing stage, Cadel Evans and Michael Rogers are in the top 10 and Robbie McEwen retains the green sprint jersey.

ELIZABETH JACKSON: For the first time in the history of the Tour de France, Australian cyclists have a very real chance of winning the world's toughest road race.

After a difficult climbing stage through the Pyrenees Mountains, former mountain biker Cadel Evans is now in fourth place.

Michael Rogers, the other Aussie hope to win the Tour, kept his top 10 position, and Robbie McEwan is still wearing the green sprinters jersey.

As Jennifer Macey reports, now that Lance Armstrong has retired, this could be the first year that an Australian might actually win.

COMMENTATOR: It looks to me as though Denis Menchov is going to make this for the victory. He gets it, Leipheimer second, Landis third.

JENNIFER MACEY: The difficult 200-kilometre climb through the Pyrenees has been the most important stage of this year's Tour de France, weeding out the real contenders for the overall winner.

Russian Denis Menchov won the stage, while American Floyd Landis took out the yellow jersey, and at just over a minute behind, Australian Cadel Evans climbed into fourth place.

CADEL EVANS: Yeah, it's a good place to be at this point in the tour. I wanted to lose 18 seconds today, but sometimes it doesn't all go according to plan, and I chose to work with Landis a little bit since we were ... a good selection had been made, and I knew that would cross me near the end, but that was a decision I made at the time.

JENNIFER MACEY: Now he's looking to cross the Paris finish line among the first three riders.

CADEL EVANS: After today it's looking more and more realistic.

JENNIFER MACEY: Evans' teammate in the Belgian Davitamon Lotto team is Robbie McEwan, who has sped past the other riders to win three stages of this year's tour and retain the green sprinters jersey.

He believes Cadel Evans could win this year's Tour de France.

ROBBIE MCEWAN: He rode a good first time trial which wasn't really suited to his time trialling characteristics, it was quite a sort of a big man's course, and I think he's really ready and up to the challenge of the mountain. So he's a very realistic contender, and I think he can win it.

JENNIFER MACEY: Cadel Evans comes from rougher terrain to most road cyclists, as a former mountain biking world champion.

Off-road riding builds endurance and has made Evans perform well in the mountain stages.

Mike Turtur is an Olympic gold medallist. He believes it's this climbing ability that makes Evans a real contender to wear the yellow jersey.

MIKE TURTUR: But he's always been able to climb, and that was witnessed a few years back in the tour of Tasmania, where he got to the top of Mt Wellington ahead of everyone by minutes. And it was there and then that there was statements made about this guy, that for the first time Australia really did have a genuine climber that could match it in the Tour de France. And now we're seeing the fruits of those early predictions.

JENNIFER MACEY: The retirement of longtime champion Lance Armstrong last year has opened the competition to other riders for the first time in seven years.

But a blood doping investigation in Spain just days before the start of this year's Tour saw some of the top riders thrown off the race.

German cyclist Jan Ullrich was dumped from T-mobile, leaving the team without an obvious leader. This position could be filled by Australian Michael Rogers if he does well in the mountain stages.

Yesterday, he came in three minutes behind on stage, and is in seventh place overall.

Mr Turtur says for the first time since Phil Anderson wore the yellow jersey in the early 80s, the Aussies have a real chance of winning.

MIKE TURTUR: It's the first time that we've actually got a genuine general classification opportunity with two riders, in Michael Rogers and Cadel Evans. Michael Rogers has been in the top 20, top 30, and previous to that was Phil Anderson in the 80s.

So ... and of course we've had previously Stuart O'Grady and Robbie McEwan, and Baden Cook in the green jersey competition featuring very well and winning stages.